The Dust of Creation
by Deception's Call
Summary: Steve Rogers wakes up after the Battle of New York, and all he knows is that everyone he holds dear is gone, and that there's a strange man with intelligent brown eyes at the foot of his bed, and he's saying, "Come with me."
1. Part I: In Another Life

**Helloo everyone! It's finally summer for me so I can exercise my writing skills to its fullest potential. **

**This is probably going to be a ****two-shot,**** and most of the material will be covered in the second chapter. Cliff notes version: Steve doesn't wake up until after the Chitauri invasion. **

**This actually took me quite a bit of thought. So I hope everything makes sense!**

**__****Summary:**_** Steve Rogers wakes up after the Battle of New York, and all he knows is that everyone he holds dear is gone, and that there's a strange man with intelligent brown eyes at the foot of his bed, and he's saying, "Come with me.**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers.**

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_The Dust of Creation_

When Steve Rogers wakes up, he notices a ceiling fan swirling round and round and round, and hears a game on a radio that was played years before he went down in the Arctic.

He doesn't like this place.

The walls are stripped bare, and Steve notices that the décor has been made to resemble that of the 40's, but the street is too loud, the buildings outside the window are too high, and the scene is just too fake for it to be all real.

He sits up, and jumps back when he sees a man with a neatly trimmed goatee and intelligent brown eyes is sitting on a chair at the foot of his bed. Steve thinks he looks like Howard, and his heart sinks.

The man stands up from his chair, and offers an outstretched hand with a bright gleam in his eye before he says, "Come with me."

And Steve doesn't know why, but he does.

* * *

The night was alive with the smell of the insanity of the man pulling him along the streets of New York.

Clad in a beige shirt and pants, Steve Rogers followed the man daintily all the while trying not to gape at the scenes unfolding in front of him.

Bright lights, with the buildings hushed down into silhouettes as the sun bowed down behind them. Flashy cars, colorful lights, and people wearing things that really don't cover up enough skin. But New York was _loud,_ and it made Steve's head hurt, like a hammer pounding against a heavy locked metal door.

And still, the man in front of him, who was draped in a simple black shirt with 'Black Sabbath' written on it and denim jeans, pulled him along through the streets, winding and weaving through the crowd like a ghost. Fleeting, almost like no one could see them.

But they were real. As real as the next person Steve brushed his shoulder against.

Strong, calloused hands held his tightly, the signs of struggle and war and hurt. And strangely enough, Steve didn't want to let go.

But Steve was still confused, it was obvious as the sun setting behind him, that this was not home. This was not the 40's, this was not the place he knew and loved. No, no, this was something entirely knew.

It almost seemed like something out of a warzone after the man pulled him around the corner. Bricks and rubble and ash littered the street, rounded off with yellow tape and shining lights and blaring sirens. And Steve didn't know what was going on.

But then the man stopped, and abruptly turned around in front of the yellow tape. Steve bumped into him and he stumbled back.

Blinking, the man stretched out his hand with a bright smile on his face. "Hello."

Steve creased his brow, before taking the man's hand in his in a firm grip. "Who are you?"

The man laughed, and Steve noticed a slight bruise around his neck. "Why I'm Tony, Tony Stark."

Steve blinked, and stepped back. The man – Tony, simple cocked his head to the right like a confused puppy. "What's wrong, Cap? Cat got your tongue?"

Tony chuckled again before shaking his head in tease. "Oh, Cap, such innocence in your eyes. Such confusion. Would you like me to elaborate?"

Steve huffed, eyes darting around him, wishing and wondering why the hell there were destroyed buildings behind Tony's back. The red and blue lights of the emergency personnel created an angelic shadow on Tony's face.

"You," he pointed towards Tony's chest, which he now noticed held a bright blue light, "what _are you?_ Where am I? What is this?"

He began gesturing frantically to the buildings, to the sky, to the cars, to the people, and Steve felt his heart pumping against his chest at what felt like a hundred miles a minute.

And he just doesn't _understand. _

Tony looks at him, lips pursed in a pout, brows creased and head cocked to the side. He taps his hands against each other before taking another scrutinizing look at Steve.

"Me?" Steve nods. "You know who I am."

Steve wrinkles his nose, "Tony Stark."

Tony nods, a small smile finally gracing his lips. "Good. What else do you need to know?"

"What is this? What's happening? Where's Howard? Are you his son?"

Tony rolls his eyes, "Oh god," he mutters, "you're smarter than that, Cap. Impress me."

Steve looked at him, eyebrows creased in an irritated look with his arms crossed over his chest. Tony put his hands up in mock defense. "Okay, okay, geez."

Tony looked behind him, at the burning buildings that the flames are still devouring, at the bodies being carried out of the rubble, at the ruined Stark Tower in the distance, and Steve swears he can see Tony's shoulder droop and his face fall. And he knows for sure that Tony played a part in all of that destruction.

"You've been asleep, Cap," Tony says softly, "for almost seventy years."

As soon as the words leave Tony's lips, the bustle of the streets behind him and the blaring of the sirens blur into one, loud buzzing noise. He feels his head spinning, and the world turning beneath his feet, and he can't help but think that everyone he loved, everyone he held close, was dead.

"And you missed it."

Steve rounds back, his eyes focusing solely on Tony's brown ones. He gnaws at his bottom lip, ignoring the pain in his chest and the weight of his heart. "What?"

"You missed the war, Cap. Woke up too late."

Steve furrows his eyebrows, and his eyes take a peek at the destruction behind the man who whisked him away from purgatory. "What happened?"

Tony's eyes look down, the shadows of the lights behind him casting a shadow on his features, but it's not dark enough that Steve doesn't notice the tears pooling at his eyes.

"It was the greatest war that I have ever fought, and the hardest battle that I've ever won. But winning comes at a price, Steve, and lives were lost that day. There was so much blood, and so much fire, and you weren't there," Tony breathes, his voice choking a little on his suppressed sobs.

"The city was taken control by a madman," he hisses through gritted, "and we fought _so hard._"

"Who's 'they?'" Steve asks. He feels fear bubbling up inside his chest as the sun fades down and the sky turns black.

Tony's eyes glance up towards his, "The Avengers." He huffs and lets out a humorless laugh, and continues, "And we won. But this was never supposed to happen."

They both look back at the scene of destruction behind them, and Steve watches the moon rise from the curtain call.

"What was never supposed to happen?" Steve asks, and his voice is shaking.

Tony takes a deep breath, and Steve can see an internal struggle fighting a losing battle inside him. "In another life, this was never supposed to happen. In another life this was the story that never was."

"What do you mean?"

Tony looks back at Steve, eyes soft and calm, but lips curved in a frown.

"This is where I died."

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**Basically everything will be explained in the next and ****final**** chapter :) I don't know, just a random idea that popped in and this happened!**

**Hopefully, I'll be able to upload the next part tomorrow morning or in two days!**

**Reviews are appreciated! :)**


	2. Part II: In All the Universe

**Okay so this is the second part of The Dust of Creation :) I know some of you guys are probably confused but not to worry! Everything will (hopefully) be explained in this last chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers.**

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_Continued…_

"_This is where I died."_

Steve blinks. Once, twice, thrice. And blinks again. But the world is still buzzing, and the scene behind them is still on fire, and bodies are still being pulled out of the rubble, and Tony is still standing in front of him.

"Wha…what?" he stutters with a brow creased in confusion. "But you're real! You have to be real! You…you held my hand! I _felt _your skin!"

Tony shakes his head, "I'm not real, Steve. I'm just a ghost. You felt me because you believed that I was real, but I'm not. I'm nothing but a speck of dust in the fabric of reality." Tony breathes out, gnawing on his bottom lip.

"It was never supposed to be this way."

Steve growls through a clenched jaw, "Just explain!" He curls his hand and tries to contain his shaking. "This is not possible, you're real! I'm in a dream, none of this is real! All of this is wrong!"

He looks back at Tony, and notices the pale skin, with blue veins sticking sorely out of his wrists. Pale, with the blood drained out of his system. His lips are chapped, there is bruising around his neck and his head. The blue light in his chest is flickering. Steve stretches out his hand, and it falls through Tony's chest.

He is dead.

He is a ghost.

All of this is wrong.

"You were supposed to be there, Cap. In the war, you were supposed to help us," Tony began, "but something went wrong and you weren't there, and I died.

"I wasn't supposed to die."

Steve takes a deep breath and smooth's down his beige shirt. He can hear his heart pumping against his chest one beat at a time. "What happened?"

Tony takes a glance behind him and Steve follows his gaze to the ruined tower in the distance, with letters barely hanging on and the top floors destroyed.

"There was a portal. And creatures from another world came through to ours. Life beyond our own, scattered amongst the stars. There is more to life than us in that vast void of darkness and space. And the portal could be closed if the scepter holding the source of the destruction was used to close it.

"You were supposed to give one of us a boost, so they could catch a quick ride to the top of the Tower, to close the portal. But you weren't there, so she wasn't able to get there in time.

"They sent a nuke in on the city, and I took and flew it through the wormhole. I thought I was going to die. I saw the vast ship destroyed with my own eyes, and there was life on that ship, and I killed them in cold blood," Tony says.

Steve watches him in silence.

"And then I was falling, faster and faster and faster and I wasn't stopping. And she didn't make it to the Tower in time to close the portal before the explosion of the ship reached it.

"I was falling when the explosion reached the portal, and they didn't see me hit the ground," Tony eyes fill with tears as he lets out a shaky breath. Steve notices pieces of destroyed red and gold twisted metal charred and embedded into the ground, and a slight crater about a hundred and fifty yards away.

"You were supposed to help her get to the Tower on time."

Steve tears his eyes away from Tony's. "I'm sorry."

He shakes his head, a stray tear rolling down his cheek. "Out of all of time, and out of the whole of creation, we are nothing but dust from dead stars, and there are universes out there beyond our own, and I hope that in one of them, you didn't wake up too late."

Tony clears his throat, "But even so, in all of space and time and of monsters and gods, there is not one person who doesn't matter."

And then he's gone, and there's nothing left in Tony's place but a swirl of cold wind, and the howl of magic and gods and creatures of the unknown.

Steve leans forward, and gazes at the broken Tower in the distance and the black clouds on top with the beginning sounds of thunder and lightning. He hears a hawk squawk on the building next to him before taking flight towards the Tower, and a black widow spider crawling on the wall of the building the hawk just left.

He hears a crack, and he looks down to see a shattered piece of glass from bent glasses, and sees a strip of purple fabric in the rubble. And amongst the twisted metal, he stumbles upon a piece of untarnished red and gold metal shaped like a face, and thinks that maybe Tony left it for him.

A sound of thunder cracks. A hawk flies by. A spider crawls. A pair of cracked glasses. A faceplate of the brightest red and gold. And Steve knows that this was meant to be home.

A gust of wind chills his bones, and Steve swears he can see a ghost of a man flying through the city in a red and gold suit.

A soft howl of wind pulls him towards the Tower, and he knows he can hear Tony speaking.

_Even heroes fall._

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**This is the explanation! Shorter than the last chapter, but that mainly just set it up. I hope it made sense! If it didn't just tell me and I'll explain :) But yes, Tony is dead in this story, like legitimately dead. Dead and gone and whatnot. It's basically a parallel universe where Steve misses the Battle of New York and Tony dies. **

**Anyway, thank you for reading! **

**Reviews for the Angst-Ridden Soul? –bats eyelashes unattractively- **


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